Luo Cuifen

Luo Cuifen (born in Songming, Yunnan Province, 1976), is a woman from China with 26 sewing needles in her body, discovered after she visited the hospital complaining of blood in her urine. Luo said at least two needles had been pulled from festering wounds on her abdomen when she was a young child. Some of the needles have penetrated vital organs, such as the lungs, liver, kidneys, and brain. She is currently being treated at the Richland International Hospital, Kunming, where doctors hope to find a way to remove the needles. Doctors believe the needles were inserted into her body when she was just a few days old by her grandparents, whom they believe were disappointed that she was not a boy. The Chinese government has a birth control policy requiring payment of a "social compensation fee" for couples having more than one child in an urban area. This has caused the problem of sex-selective abortion and, in this case, discrimination against female children.